Saturday Morning - French Toast

I'm going to try to follow a sort of loose schedule with this blog. On Saturday mornings, I enjoy making something fun for my kids and occasionally my boyfriend, when he is in town. Actually, when he's here for a visit, I try to get him to cook for me. He's awesome in the kitchen.

This morning I decided to make French Toast. Years ago, when I was pregnant with my oldest child, Max, who is now almost 18, I had the opportunity to enjoy some really good brunch buffets. I lived, at the time, with my now ex-husband, Todd, in Spokane, Washington. We didn't go out to dinner much - we were breakfast/brunch folks.

One morning we had this incredible French Toast. It was on smallish, thickish, pieces of French bread and it was coated with a layer of browned powdered sugar. I assume that they cooked the toast in some sort of deep-fryer, but I don't own a deep fryer. I've never been able to replicate it exactly at home, but I try and I have accomplished a pretty good version of it. Here's how I make it...........

French Toast

Ingredients:
8 slices of French bread, use thickness of your choice, I used sandwich style today
3 eggs
1 cup milk (I like nonfat)
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar
canola oil

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Take a cookie sheet, line with parchment paper (or spray with oil spray) and set aside. Pour canola oil into a pan, heat to medium. Sprinkle powdered sugar on a plate.

It's best to use day-old bread, but if all you have is fresh, lay it out to dry for a bit. This will make a firmer bread, which is easier to handle. Break the eggs into a bowl, add milk, and vanilla. Beat the mixture, lay a slice of bread on top of it, flip the bread over quickly, then place into the hot pan.
Brown briefly, then flip with a spatula. I don't brown the toast deeply, because I'm going to pop it in the oven soon and crisp it up there.
Pull the toast out, place over powdered sugar, flip and sugar other side. If it's not sticking, sort of pat the sugar into the toast. Place on the waiting cookie sheet, then start all over again with a new piece of toast. When you have all 8 pieces on the sheet, take a little screened strainer, and sift additional sugar over the top. Place the sheet into the oven and bake for 12 minutes. For an even crisper crust, turn on the broiler and broil for an additional minute or 2. Watch closely.

At this point, the toasts are ready to be served as is, or you can add butter and syrup, if you prefer.